What a tragic yet wonderful book about the ways in which several intertwined lives can be derailed, or worse, destroyed, in one thoughtless moment. The narrative is told from several different points of view and travels back and forth through a limited period of time - this tactic might have been confusing from a lesser author, but Shreve kept each voice so clear and distinct that I had no trouble falling seamlessly into the many stories being told.

The idea of teenagers and sex isn't new, nor is it often particularly interesting - here, though, the story was less about sex and more about reason and consequence, about the fine lines between action and reaction. Four students and one night had the power to change the course of history for themselves, their parents and their school at large - a power they never considered nor ever seemed fully to realize throughout the story. Shreve captured the various characters and kept them rich and true to life, and though I had a feeling early on where the story would end, I couldn't put it down until I got there and saw for myself. I highly recommend this book - 5 stars! ( )

My opinion relates only to the first half of this book because I'm not reading it any more; feels like a punishment someone set out for me before bed each day. If the second half of this book suddenly becomes consequential, insightful and cleverly written don't tell me about it because I can't bear to pick it up again.

First of all, I am underwhelmed by the alleged enormity of the central act in this book: Teenagers having videotaped sex. I understand that Shreve is in her sixties now but that's no excuse for her outraged sensibilities as she grew up in the 1960's and is writing in 21st century America. How can she justify these exaggerated postures of shock and horror over an act which at worst shows poor judgement on the part of teenagers? As if that's never happened before.

Secondly,the narrative mode irritates on many levels. Shreve chooses to tell us the story from the points of view of about twenty different characters(I've read ten but I'm sure she's not going to stop there). Problem is, that each of these narrative voices are all essentially the same. The differences are superficial and patronising. If it's a young narrator, they speak in short, jerky sentences and use "like" to punctuate sentences:

"I'm like if anyone touches me,I'm going to kill them...It's just, I don't know. i'm,like, fine now."

Characters from the older generation are allowed longer, less idiomatic sentences. Everyone has the same voice, which is Anita Shreve's reflective, regretful,it's-not-my-fault voice. If it wasn't for the character's name heading the chapter you'd have no idea who was talking,only which generation they belonged to.

That's, like, all I'm saying. ( )

When a videotape surfaces, showing three boys and a girl performing sexual acts with each other, it's everyones worst nightmare. Especially when the boys are aged from seventeen to nineteen, and the girl is only fourteen, even though it appears that she was a very willing participant in the events. It seems even more shocking as all on the video were students at the private Avery Academy in Vermont, and the press has a field day, tearing apart peoples lives as they do so.

This book is written as if the people involved are telling a researcher who is looking into the effects alcohol has on boys behaviour. Taken from many different viewpoints, it reaches from well before the tape was made until well after, and shows all the different events that lead up to that night.

Whilst this isn't the first book I have read that deals in different viewpoints, I think that it is the one that has the most voices. We hear the stories of twenty different people, including all the people in the tape, the headmaster of the school, various parents, teachers, students etc. And it certainly gives an insight into a lot of different aspects and repercussions, including little details such as people making a fortune renting their houses out when the press need places to stay. However, there were just too many for me to be able to ever connect with the novel.

There was also writing in the first, second and third person and for me, it didn't work. I was always slightly distracted by what was coming next and what technique was going to be used in the following chapter.

If the writer had stuck to the main characters stories I think this would have flowed a whole lot better, instead of stopping and starting. I recognise that it was written as a testimony with all involved having their say, but it dramatically reduced the emotional impact. Some of the voices felt real but others didn't, put there simply to give an unnecessary perspective that could have been told some other way.

However, the basic storyline was an interesting one, and certain viewpoints were extremely well told. For me, there was just too much going on.

An interesting but muddled account of a private school scandal. ( )

The presence of alcohol at a private school in Vermont turns an innocent school dance into a major catastrophe that threatens the reputation of the school, and changes the lives of many of the students. Shreve is a great story-teller and unfortunately, this story isn't all that far-fetched. ( )

Reason for Reading: I really wanted to read this book right from when it first came out but it just kept getting pushed to the bottom of the pile.

Summary: Avery is a small New England town and Avery Academy, the private high school, is the only prestigious thing about it. That is until the headmaster receives a sex tape of several students in a drunken orgy which someone has filmed. While that may not exactly be shocking these days, especially if it had come from the public school, what is shocking is those involved. One girl is only fourteen. The boys are top A students and athletes with promising futures. One boy is a day student, on a scholarship, one of "them" (a town boy), from an upstanding farm family. What follows is a retelling of the events leading up to and after that dreadful event told through the voices of those involved and many others.

Comments: This was a wonderful book! I really enjoyed the read. Each chapter the voice changes from character to character, going from major players to minor characters such as teachers on staff to room mates. This is a brilliant way to keep what is actually a fairly simple plot going into many different directions. There are secrets that unfold that make the simple incident more than it seems initially. Also viewing the incident from each major character's point of view turns what at first appears to be an easy-place-blame incident into one much more profound showing one the other side, multiple other sides and the moral issues involved when one is so quick to make rash judgement on others. A very intriguing story!

The characters are all developed well, at least the ones the author meant to. I became attached to a couple of the characters but knew they were doomed from the beginning. Perhaps that is why I became attached to them? There are a couple of major reveals in the book. One I had figured out from the very beginning so was rather let down that I had actually uncovered it as I think it spoilt the effect for me. If I could have been surprised/shocked over the event my rating would have been higher. All in all, though, I really enjoyed the book. Now she has a new book out, A Change in Altitude, (Sept. 09) which looks very good to me as well. I think I may have found another favourite author. ( )